seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from T1
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Germany
seen from Singapore
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Serbia
seen from United States
seen from Singapore
seen from China
seen from Denmark
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Singapore
annual reminder that this is who pride is for:
❤️ those who are out & proud
🧡 those who aren’t out at all
💛 people still figuring it all out
💚 folks trying out new labels or terms
💙 people who have always known
💜 people who are just realizing
🩷 those out there being loud
🤍 those waiting until it’s safer
🩵 our elders who came before to pave the way
🤎 and youth making change right here, right now
we see you, you're valid, you belong here.
promise.
I have found the best ally
Straight and cis people will say that they are allies, but you will NEVER measure up to my dentist.
Me: "Hey, is it ok if I can change my name on my info from [DEADNAME] to Aspen?"
Random woman that I wasn't even talking to in the chair next to me: "Honey, if that's the name you had at birth, [DEADNAME] is your only name."
My dentist, very slowly turning her rolley chair towards the woman: "Shush."
Random woman: "Excuse me?"
Destist: *closes privacy curtain while staring bullets at the lady*
Me: *pissing myself laughing*
My dentist while changing my name in my info (reminder that English is not her first language, she immigrated from Russia): "There, Aspen, you have pretty boy teeth. Smile and make all girls swoon."
Me not having the heart to tell her I'm not transmasc but I'm Agender, and still pissing myself laughing: "Thank you [DENTIST NAME]."
Edit: Ok, this has gotten alot of attention, but right now my other posts is what really needs attention. I have a few fundraisers for people trying to evacuate Palestine and Gaza, but also a diabetic who needs her insulin shot. Please please please, go to my page and at the very least repost those posts, have the day you deserve and free Palestine🇵🇸
I am living for Ilya *visibly queer icon* Rozanov and Shane *dude who happens to be gay* Hollander.
Shane, who grew up loved by his parents unconditionally, has been undiagnosed with autism and has made his entire life about ice hockey, has never thought about being gay as an identity. He already has a clear identity: Shane Hollander, Japanese-Canadian, beloved son and the country's best ice hockey player. He already experienced discrimination so he has no desire to engage in the queer community and fight against stereotypes, that do not apply to him. Nobody clocks him as gay because his interests don't suit the hateful narrative. His interests, hobbies or personality traits have never been particularly queer, so why should he make a problem out of it? He is fine and as long as nobody harms him, he feels no need to take part in public discussion, being a role model or simply being visibly queer
Ilya, on the other hand, is a victim of domestic violence, verbal abuse and childhood trauma. He lives in a country that criminalises queerness to an extent that being queer is dangerous. He is a sensible man who was called the f-slur when he was a teenager and probably also a child. His father controlled him so much that he learned not to speak or move on his own in public. He minimised his personal expression to suit his family's view on masculinity. At the same time, Ilya accepted his queerness as a major part of his personality, because casual sex has been his coping mechanism for many years, his close friends are queer, allies or women and his interest in partying fits into queer escapism. He is hyperaware of the discrimination of the queer community because it's a major realistic fear in his life.
In the moment when Ilya's no longer in active danger of being deported, he becomes the activist for queer representation in hockey. He wears make up, nail polish, dresses himself in expensive jewellery, uses hand bags and queer lingo. He can finally show his queer side. Yuna gets crazy over all the cooperation while David gives him little words of affirmation now and then. Ilya is living his queer joy, and Shane watches him from the site. Shane is Shane, dressed in the same black suit he always wears and smiles shyly when ask any questions. A reporter asks him what he's serving today and Shane just stares blankly. Then Ilya interrupts with an accent heavy "cunt".
Nine years later bb 💕
Stranger Things has three very different yet common journeys of queer teenagers learning to embrace their sexuality throughout the series. Each one is unique and I think a large part of the queer audience can identify closely with one of the characters' journeys.
Robin
Robin's journey can be identified as the more ideal tale. Not to downplay the negatives at all, but calling it this because many of her negative feelings and journey of being queer are mostly shown off screen and her journey keeps getting more and more positive as it goes.
In season three Robin is more closed off and sarcastic, and when she does come out to Steve (the first person we know that she has told) she is terrified, afraid of being rejected or worse. But instead, Steve accepts her right away and starts ribbing her letting her know they are still friends.
In seasons four and five, we see her come out of her shell — there is also the argument to be made that Robin is neurodivergent and part of this journey is her no longer masking anymore.
In season four, we see her doubt that a girl she likes likes her back, and we changed herself to slightly. Steve encourages her to pursue her interests and to not change herself, he sees from an outside perspective and can see the connection that Robin's self doubt can't.
And finally in season five, we see her happy and in a relationship with Vickie. She's comfortable with herself and that's evident on screen. Robin also gets to step up into the role of queer mentor to Will. We get to hear her story of self acceptance, seeing her happy younger self and wanting to get that back, and successfully embracing her inner strength and learning to love herself which includes her sexuality.
Through the struggles, we see how Robin changes and embraces herself and steps up into an older queer mentor role.
Will
(pretend that's yellow not orange — yellow isn't an option)
Will's journey is the classic queer story about the outsider. From the beginning, Will's disappearance is tied to his supposed queerness. We find out from Joyce that Will's father emotionally abused him and called him slurs. Hopper, Mike's parents (particularly his dad) and many others in town assume that Will's death was/could be related to suicide from the bullying or getting killed by others for being queer.
While Will's queerness is established from the beginning, season three really starts to double down on it in a different way. Will missed out on a year of his life, his childhood while he was in the upside down, and he wants to hold onto his childhood a little longer. His friends are all starting to date and things are changing. This makes him an outsider emotionally even to his friends. Even Mike makes a comment about it (which he regrets immediately and also I think is more a reflection of Mike self projecting than of about Will himself.)
Season four we see that not only is Will confirmed "canonically" gay, but his feelings are tied to his deep love for his best friend, Mike. It is such a common journey for people to have crushes on same sex friends before realizing they are queer. Robin crushed on a random person she didn't even know, but Will is in love with his best friend.
Jonathan, Will's brother (and there can be a whole argument on the parentification of Jonathan into a fatherly role to Will) knows his brother and realizes his brother's sexuality and feelings for Mike. He pulls Will to the side and tells him he can talk to him whenever he feels comfortable and that no matter what Jonathan loves and accepts Will for who he is.
It's a beautiful scene and it's an important step of Will's journey of embracing himself and his queerness and also bracing those feelings of being an outsider. Just like how Steve and Jonathan are Robin and Will's first real safe space.
We also get to see some of Will's mindset this season. How Will is that outsider, who is often confronted with that or made to feel it, but in the infamous van speech to Mike, he tells him how Mike makes El (aka Will since he's speaking about himself but using the pretext of El to hide behind) doesn't feel like a monster. He feels strong.
Will's journey of self acceptance hits its peak in season five. Will witnesses Robin and Vickie kissing, seeing firsthand a happy queer couple - something last season I don't think he could imagine. He cried in the car thinking the feelings for his friend are unrequited. This escalates into several talks in which Robin becomes a mentor to Will. She tells Will her story of self acceptance when she understands that Will is queer too and starting to have doubts, clocking Will and Mike flirting.
Mike also has a one-on-one with Will, telling him that he is a sorcerer; that Will's goodness and power comes from within. This talk, the talk with Robin about her journey of self love, and Jonathan's talk from last season helps Will embrace the love in his life to save his loved ones and power up — literally. Unlike Robin's journey which includes seeing just herself in the tape, learning that her power came from within, Will's tape includes images of Mike, Jonathan, and Joyce, ending on himself — because for Will his acceptance and power just doesn't come from himself but the love of the others around him.
We still have four episodes left to see what will happen, but the image of Will's acceptance to embrace powers and save his loved ones is empowering.
Mike
Mike's queer journey is the classic realistic journey. It is full of confusion and internalized homophobia.
Stranger Things takes place in the 80s, during the peak of the AIDS epidemic, and during a time when it was often dangerous to be queer.
We see that Mike's family is conservative, a Reagan sign sits in the yard, and his dad is emotionally distant, his dad even makes a comment to Mike during Will's disappearance in season one about Will's sexuality being the reason for his disappearance.
Comphet and heteronormativity surrounds Mike, such as when people like his sister to his friends tease him about having "feelings" for Eleven early on.
The first two seasons include Mike constantly concerned about Will, he only hides El in season one when he finds out that El knows Will and could help rescue him. Of course El then becomes part of the friend group and more.
In a scene in the first season, Mike's mom sits down with him to talk about Will in a speech that is similar to Jonathan and Will's in season four, She tells Mike that he can tell her anything, he doesn't have to keep secrets from her. This is immediately preceded by a noise coming out of his closet! (Queercoding and subtext galore batman!)
Will and Mike's friendship is set apart from all others and is written and cinematographically shot more intimate. They are able to be open with each other, offering support and it's clear they are better together, bringing out honesty, leadership, and strength. They are also paralleled to romantic couples on the show, such as the parallels with Steve, Robin, Vickie and Robin, Will, and Mike.
Throughout all of the seasons, we see this deep connection. Even when they have their fights, they talk it through after, showing their willingness to be vulnerable together.
There are many, many queercoding and subtext hints of Mike's sexuality in the show from closets to reclaimed queer signaling to the rainbows always shown on Mike and between Mike and Will, the yellow and blue color coding. These are broken down scene by scene on some great posts and videos on YouTube that will offer more details than I do here.
But Mike is also shown crushing on other boys than Will. He looks in admiration at Eddie throughout season four, particularly at the lunch table, and when he travels to California to see Will and El, he can be seen smiling then blushing at a teen boy when the group sits at the table in the skating rink.
Mike is adverse to change and part of his PTSD and trauma from everything that's happened is his abandonment issues. He is reluctant to add El to the group, and then the next season Max to the group. But he also is terrified of losing anyone.
As stated earlier, a lot of Mike's conflict is internal, and after s2 we don't have a lot of Mike POV, per se, we have to analyze his facial expressions and other filmography decisions (closets, couple parallels, lighting, etc).
Mike encourages Will to dance with the girl at the snowball dance. But the entire time he's staring at Will, upset. Mike and El get together at the end of S2, after being apart for a long time. And then in S3 they are together for a little bit, always shown making out. But Mike pulls away a lot during it, even taking El's hands off of him during it but shows his reluctance on it. Then at the end of the season, when El kisses him and tells him she loves him too, he looks confused and lost. He doesn't kiss her back, his eyes are open, and he's standing in front of an open closet — Will's closet which has the light on only during this moment.
All of season four is about how Mike cannot tell El that he loves her. Mike and El are both miserable, never happy together due to these different feelings and put upon expectations. (Only time we see Mike genuinely smile this season are two scenes that are just between him and Will.) It's clear that while Mike loves El, it is not in the way that El wants him to, i.e. in love. Mike is only able to say he loves her during the speech with the encouragement of Will. First, Will's speech in the van and then right before the speech when El's trapped by Vecna. But unlike Mike's speech to Will in S2 that breaks him out of Vecna's control, this doesn't work on El and that's cause it's mostly stolen words from Eddie and made up lies. We know Mike makes El feel like a monster (he's compared to Papa many, many times) and he did not like her from the moment he saw her. By the end of the season and beginning of season five, we do not know for sure if Mike and El are still a couple.
We also have the theory that Mike could be on Vecna's radar. That he could be a target, which would affect both Will and El. We know Mike suffers from depression and I think like with Max, showing what he perceives as failing, with Will, with El, with being ashamed and in the closet, etc are all ways Vecna can get to him. Mike bottles up his feelings and right now they are locked up tight just waiting to burst like his breakdown with Hopper in S2!
All of these moments I think are important to Mike's progress of understanding his sexuality, of confronting comphet and his own internalized homophobia. He loves El but is he in love with her? Why are his feelings for Will different than with other people? Why is he jealous of Will making a painting for a girl when Will makes all this art for Mike — art that we know covers the walls of the basement and Mike's bedroom, even a portfolio of it is under Mike's bed. It is also an incredibly common queer journey to date the opposite sex. He is struggling to figure out all of this, he has never been in love before or dated and he's trying to figure out what his feelings are, what different types of love mean. And hopefully in the second half, understanding and accepting all of this.
I will also add the caveat of Mike's sexuality —unlike Robin and Will's — at the end of S5 volume one has not been canonically confirmed. And of course there is the chance that it won't be, but I think there is enough text for this reading of Mike's sexuality to be concrete. It is also a journey that many queer people can and do identify with.
Robin, Will, and Mike have different journeys of finding themselves and figuring out their sexuality. Robin's involves finding a safe space and figuring herself out internally, finding strength in herself. And passing her experience onto another confused teenager. Will's is about always being that outsider feeling different, and learning to embrace that difference and the love of the family around you who love you for exactly who you are. Mike's is about trying to figure out feelings particularly the different types of love are. About getting out of heteronormativity and the closet and being himself.
It's important to see queer journeys on television, to see characters we can relate to. And I find it a wonderful thing that Stranger Things offers multiple different journeys that the audience can relate and identify with. Not everyone's journey is the same, and neither are the characters we love.
The fact that straight people have normalized being miserable and dissatisfied with their lives and relationships and secretly hating their romantic/sexual partners sorta makes it more difficult to realize you're queer
Like "am I miserable because I'm queer or is it normal to hate your boy/girlfriend?.... Well, all the straight people I know keep saying they hate their boy/girlfriends too so it must be normal".
And it also makes the people in straight relationships that *are* happy and chill look and feel weird as hell
How's your day going 💙💕
tosses it like a basketball
🏀
If you keep staring at that, it’s not going to change.
#piningfromafar #jealousy #mikedosomething #makeyourfirstmove #playthegame #takeaction
Mike crumples up the letter.
#lettergate #brokenheartedmike #givingup #toolate #isit?
It banks off the wall, misses.
#materialgirlgate #sufferingahit #impact #backfiring #loser!mike #loser!chance #mistakes #failedattempts #imissyou
Will […] drops it in for him —
#truelove #backtogether #theyllcomeback #iknowtheywill
[Will] waits for his friend [Mike]. Giving him time.
#latebloomers #queerjourney #goatyourownpace #comingout
And sure enough, Mike starts to open up…
🚪🔓🗃️
@ven0moir @offsidetracked @eeriesilkworm @o11yradio @nocturnalgrey @maplesyrup75 @90shorrorpaperback
